Reel to reel - am I doing it wrong?

DiscoStu

My late dad used to do a lot of home voice recording and during a clear out of the family home I've come away with a stack of old reels and a Telefunken Magnetophon 201 player/recorder. I want to find all the bits with him talking and archive them for my siblings, it would be fab to hear him again after all these years.

Everything is playing at half speed though so am I doing something wrong? There is a switch with 1, 2 and P on it but that doesn't change the speed. Playback audio works when in the 1 or P positions but not in 2. He had other machines but they seemed past it when I tried switching them on. All very post-war! 

Perhaps the reels were recorded on another machine at double speed and this one only has single speed? No idea, can't find info online.

The best I've managed so far is take a DIN to phono lead and record a minute or two in to my laptop then double speed and octave up in Audacity. It's a slow process. If there's a way to double speed the player itself that would be awesome.

boogieman

Im pretty sure my dad's old reel to reel had two speeds: 3 3/4 and 7 1/2 fps ( feet per second). The faster one was supposed to be better quality for recorded music. Could well be they've been recorded at a different speed. 

thermionic

If you can't get it to play at the right speed, or find a working machine that does, you could always double the speed in a DAW or even Audacity or something similar. The only drawback is you'd have to sit there for twice as long while it records!

DiscoStu

thermionic said:

If you can't get it to play at the right speed, or find a working machine that does, you could always double the speed in a DAW or even Audacity or something similar. The only drawback is you'd have to sit there for twice as long while it records!

Check my original post

spark240

What size reels are they..?

DiscoStu

spark240 said:

What size reels are they..?

Some are 5" diameter, some are 7". Does that matter? I've just noticed that there are 3 speed options on the reel cases and Dad's ticked the 7.5 sec box on them, so the machine must be playing them at 3.75 sec.
So really I guess it's working out if this machine has a faster speed option that I can't find.

ICBM

If I remember correctly some of these machines came with a small metal tube which fits over the capstan and doubles its diameter and hence the tape speed. If it doesn't have that option (you'll be able to tell if the maximum gap when the pinch roller isn't in contact is too small to allow it) then sometimes there are speed options inside by moving a drive belt or wheel to a different size pulley. My dad had an old National reel-to-reel like that, if I remember right.

DiscoStu

Not sure about the capstan, @ICBM. Reckon I've sussed the 1, 2, P switch though. The tape I've got on just now has half speed vocal when switch is at 1, what sounds like backwards music on 2 and both together on P. Do reels have two sides like cassettes? Sounds like I can select from two sides individually or as a pair (P).
There's no easy access to get inside if there's gearing to select from. Reverse doesn't work very well, the left reel needs some manual help to get going so could be a worn belt there.

DiscoStu

Oo! Oo! I just found a reel that plays at the proper speed so the others must have been recorded at a higher speed on a different machine!
Been listening to my dad hosting a show in our town hall back in the 80s. He used to compere charity events and do a couple of stand up routines at them too. I never saw him do his shows because I was young and also he made me laugh every single day at home so I didn't need to go out to see him be funny.
Local legend. I miss my old man.

exocet

If I recall correctly, consumer grade machines offered speeds of 7 1/2, 3 3/4, and 1 7/8 inches per second. Professional machines offered 7 1/2,  15 and occasionaly 30 nches per second. 

If the playback speed changes when you go between P 1 & 2, it would appear that the tape was recorded at a higher speed. Many consumer machines had belt driven capstans, belts stretch and slip but that would not typically half the playback speed. 

exocet

Quarter track machines definetly had "2 sides" I can't remember whether 1/2 track were the same. I think 1/4 track had 4 tracks or 2 x Stereo tracks. 1/2 track was 2 mono tracks or 1 Stereo track. It's been years since I worked with that stuff .

Standard cassettes were 1/4 track or 4 tracks - 2 x Stereo pairs, hence turning the tape over to record in the other direction. 

mrkb

Can't you record them all into a PC and speed up & correct pitch quickly using audacity?

DiscoStu

link didn't work

DiscoStu